A historic inter-Korean summit set social media on fire Friday morning, as trending bars on Twitter and search engines were plastered with the related keywords.

Following is a list of the trending keywords that dominated social media and Korean online communities Friday morning:

 

 
#Pyongyang Naengmyeon

Who would expect a bowl of cold noodles would become the top trending keyword for the inter-Korean summit? North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recommended the country’s traditional cold noodle, commonly known as Pyongyang Naengmyeon to his counterpart President Moon Jae-in during the summit to break the ice between the leaders.

“In the morning…. I heard that they talked about the dinner menu. We did manage to bring naengmyeon (Korean cold noodles) from Pyongyang,” Kim said. “I hope President Moon can enjoy it… which came a long way… ah, we probably shouldn’t say it is far.”

(Related article: Laughter all around at inter-Korean summit)

Right after Kim mentioned the cold noodles, the keyword shot to the top trending keywords on Twitter. As of 11:30 a.m., more than 27,000 Tweets that included “Pyongyang Naengmyeon” were seen on the social media.

“Now the symbol of peace has changed: it’s Pyongyang Naengmyeon, not a dove,” a Twitter user said, garnering over 200 likes. The tweet has been retweeted over 1,000 times in an hour.

“’I have brought the Pyongyang Naengmyeon from Pyeongyang, which came a long way… ah, we probably shouldn’t say it is far.’ Did Kim just say that for real?” another Twitter user said, quoting the remark from Kim. The post was retweeted over 5,200 times in an hour.

#Inter-Korean summit

Twitter Korea has aired live footage of the summit since Thursday afternoon and the number of views topped 10,000 when two leaders shook hands and cross over the Military Demarcation Line together.

Cheong Wa Dae’s official Twitter account uploaded a series of high-resolution pictures from the summit in real-time, which received a heated response from the social media users.

“The leaders of the two Koreas cross over the Military Demarcation Line for a moment, holding hands together. It was not a planned action,” a tweet from Cheong Wa Dae said, with a hashtag “Inter-Korean summit.” The tweet instantly spread on the platform as more than 5,400 users shared the post in an hour.

The picture of Kim and Moon shaking hands was retweeted over 2,813 times.

#Start of History #New History #Era of Peace


“A new history begins now. At the starting point of history and the era of peace,” Kim wrote on a guestbook at Panmunjeom.

The number of tweets that included the keywords “new history” “start of history” and “era of peace” surpassed 7,600, 4,187 and 4,500, respectively, as the message was unveiled via live streaming video.

Many Twitter users sent support and expressed hope for a peace on the Korean Peninsula from now on, while some said they couldn’t hold back tears of joy by watching the live video.
The picture of the guestbook page was retweeted over 1,240 times and garnered over 600 likes on Twitter in an hour.

By Park Ju-young (jupark@heraldcorp.com)